The other plus for this Upper Broadway neighborhood of restored (or being restored) Victorians is the jolt of pride conveyed by such a carefully renovated building (by Lisel’s husband David Woods), offering such a welcoming spot on this busy triangular corner. In front of the open-to-the-breezes doorways to Bliss are 10 wood and wrought-iron tables and chairs, three with large orange umbrellas. Inside there are a few small tables, one tall table and a bar-shelf with stools, all with comfortably wide concave seats. The airy space rises open to the rafters, with muted light-green walls, burnt orange accents, and lots of light wood surfaces. Part of the kitchen is open to view. Half of the room is market-oriented: a freezer with packaged meals and pizzas; cold cases with drinks, yogurt (a Greek import is a highlight); fresh produce and cream cheese/veggie dips from Babbette’s Feast; and three short aisles of organic cookies, chips, dried fruit, cereals, and the like. We’d stopped in for lunch, and had a super one. Bill indulged in the Black Forest ham, brie, and caramelized onion sandwich on a fresh-baked ciabatta ($7). I ordered the marinated and grilled feta with avocado and a lemony sauce, over toast ($8.50). We shared a wonderfully bountiful Niçoise salad ($8.75), with a whole can of quality tuna, hard-boiled eggs, terrific kalamata olives, marinated potato chunks, and marinated green beans with red onion, all over mixed mesclun greens with a balsamic vinaigrette. Needless to say, we had to finish the salad (as well as the small salad with a chili-lime dressing accompanying my sandwich), and we took half-sandwiches home, albeit not before enthusing about how delicious they were. The ciabatta is a ready-to-bake bread that Bliss cooks throw in the oven each morning, and the combination of its chewy texture with the melted brie, the sweet onions, and the salty ham was dynamite. Similarly, on my sandwich, the saltiness and firmness of the feta bounced off the slightly sweet smoothness of the avocado. We succumbed to some take-home items, including two breaded chicken breasts (organic, $3.50 each), a pint of sesame noodles ($3), a slice of local baker Kenny Eggman’s cranberry cheesecake, and some muffins ($1.50 each). The chicken was tender and flavorful; the round noodles, tossed with slivers of carrot, summer squash, and zucchini, had a tasty sesame dressing. On another visit, I had the English cheddar grilled cheese with pesto and organic tomatoes ($6). It was accompanied by a bit of Caprese salad — tomato chunks, fresh mozzarella chunks and chopped fresh basil. Both were delicious. As for the pastry items we tried, the cheesecake was satisfactory, though nothing to rave about. Ditto for the muffins and scones. And likewise for bits of brownie: as dark as it was, I couldn’t get a strong chocolate taste. Perhaps we just haven’t found the best of Eggman’s offerings yet, as they all look so tempting, displayed along the counter. And there are plenty of other items to lure us back, including Bliss’s “grab ’n go” nime chow (Cambodian spring rolls); veggie nori rolls; and chicken or tuna salad wraps. Other made-to-order sandwiches feature prosciutto with tomatoes and basil; potato-crusted crab cake; turkey pastrami; naturally raised roast beef from Wolfe’s Neck Farm in Maine (either with English cheddar or as a tartare); and a set of “tea sandwiches” — egg and chive triangles, and smoked salmon with cucumber. Three soups are ready for self-service, along with a sliced olive baguette. One day the choices were chicken, vegetable barley, or clam chowder; another day, gazpacho and lentil had stepped into the trio with chicken. Breakfast items are also appealing, since the Irish-style oatmeal comes with caramelized bananas; the breakfast burrito has black beans, sharp cheddar, avocado, and organic eggs; and there’s a daily frittata with different veggies starring each time. The take-me-home-for-supper deli items change each day. Woods told me she had wanted to do “an elaborate farm stand” or “a 7-Eleven with better options.” However you describe it, her customers are glad she followed her bliss to give us Bliss. Bliss, 311 Broadway, Newport | Mon-Sat, 7:30 AM- PM | major credit cards | BYOB | sidewalk-level access | 401.608.2322
 Related:
Haru, Phuket Thai Restaurant, La Lupita, More 
- Haru
Now that we Bostonians have O Ya and the South End’s Oishii, Haru is not a New York–upscale sushi place to us.
- Phuket Thai Restaurant
Now, later generations of Thai restaurateurs are beginning to re-fuse Thai cuisine with dishes more familiar to American customers.
- La Lupita
Rhode Island has many places in which you suddenly feel plunged into another culture.
- Drink + file
We are just shy of the most traumatic day of the year, April 15, so let's follow two taxpayers in their quests to celebrate their very different fortunes with wine purchases.
- Skip the scoop shop
If you are an ice cream junkie, then this is your worst time of year.
- What to eat in a bikini
Brazil isn’t all about major wax jobs and itsy-bitsy bikinis.
- Celestial Cafe
You might wonder what could be “celestial” about a café in an out-of-the-way strip mall on a country road in South County.
- Bravo Brasserie
Bravo seems to have really adapted to the neighborhood and made itself a place for all seasons, all appetites — and all those demands of “get me to the show on time!”
- Meat
We may scream for ice cream and go cuckoo for Cocoa Puffs, but we beat our breasts for meat, the source of perhaps our most primitive cravings.
- Veggies delight
You don't have to be a meat eater to enjoy fine dining
- Miel Brasserie Provençale
What does it mean when Boston’s leading daily doesn’t review a major new restaurant until three months after it opens?
- Less
Topics: Restaurant Reviews
, Culture and Lifestyle, Food and Cooking, Cheese, More
, Culture and Lifestyle, Food and Cooking, Cheese, Foods, Fruits and Vegetables, Ethnic Cuisines, Desserts, Seafood, Italian Food and Cooking, Deli Foods, Less
THE HUMAN CONDITION | November 17, 2009
In the ambitious program they will perform this weekend (November 20 and 21 at Rhode Island College), members of Fusionworks Dance Company will premiere three pieces that look at the human condition from several perspectives.
-
PLUGGING IN | November 18, 2009
For the past six years, Festival Ballet Providence has presented an evening of short works, Up Close on Hope , in their Black Box Theater on Hope Street.
-
THE BEEHIVE CAFÉ | November 11, 2009
When Three Rivers Café closed last year, fans of chef Eli Dunn eagerly awaited his reappearance.
-
MAN AND MACHINE | November 12, 2009
For anyone fascinated with wheels and gears, circus stunts, or political satire, a troupe of performers called Cirque Mechanics bring all that and more.
-
FRA’S ITALIAN GOURMET | October 29, 2009
Ever have that kind of day when you need to start your lunch with a chocolate chip cookie?
See all articles by:
JOHNETTE RODRIGUEZ
|
|
-
Once an intellectual taboo, atheism has become one of the great growth industries of the third millennium.
-
I meet world-renowned undersea photojournalist Brian Skerry at Legal Seafoods, across from the New England Aquarium, where he's the explorer in residence. He orders a chicken Caesar salad.
-
Chris Weitz comes on board to direct Twilight ’s hotly awaited sequel, New Moon , but the second bite doesn’t sate quite like the first. Bella (Kristen Stewart) celebrates her 18th birthday with vampire boyfriend Edward (Robert Pattinson); when she gets a paper cut at the party.
-
Thanksgiving is a time for gorging on food and hanging out with family, but really it's mostly about the food. There are some dishes that take it too far, however, and we are here to help you steer clear of those.
-
John Hillcoat doesn't stray from Cormac McCarthy's Road For those who found the Coen Brothers' adaptation of Cormac McCarthy's No Country for Old Men too lighthearted, John Hillcoat's relentlessly faithful version of the author's post-apocalyptic Pulitzer-winning novel might hit the spot.
-
I meet world-renowned undersea photojournalist Brian Skerry at Legal Seafoods, across from the New England Aquarium, where he's the explorer in residence. He orders a chicken Caesar salad.
-
Once an intellectual taboo, atheism has become one of the great growth industries of the third millennium.
-
Hello, America. A special Glenn Beck Program tonight: I'm speaking to you from somewhere in the North Pole, and let me tell you [adopts cartoonish yokel voice with rubbery exaggerated shiver] it is coooooooold up here.
-
Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley this week separated herself from the gang of essentially like-minded candidates seeking to fill Senator Ted Kennedy's Washington seat by rejecting the US House of Representatives compromise that traded approval of a health-care-reform bill for greater restrictions to abortion access. Good for Coakley.
-
If you're looking for meaning in the overly sanitized myth that is our national Thanksgiving celebration, a good place to start is southeastern Massachusetts, where nearly 400 years ago that band of hungry, ill-prepared religious zealots tried to colonize the middle of nowhere at the start of winter.
|
Featured Articles in Restaurant Reviews:
Phoenix Media/Communications Group:
TODAY'S FEATURED ADVERTISERS
Copyright © 2009 The Phoenix Media/Communications Group
|